and stood up, facing Caelyn. “Listen to me,” she said. “I know that you’re upset and all, and I get that we have this history and baggage and everything. But the truth is, I really don’t care about you at all. Not even a little bit. So you probably shouldn’t waste your time thinking about me anymore. That’s my honest advice.” She patted Caelyn’s shoulder and then walked out of the room.
***
The next day, Caelyn’s parents took Deena to an inpatient psychiatric unit. They left very early in the morning, and Caelyn watched them leave from her bedroom window. She hadn’t bothered to say goodbye to her younger sister, because she’d realized that Deena had given her the best possible advice when she’d advised Caelyn not to even think about her.
About two hours later, the first reporters showed up at the house and then the phone began to ring.
Caelyn got on her computer and saw that the story about Deena and her English teacher—and the resulting webpage with all the gory text messages and pictures that had been put online by other students—had gone viral.
Mister Marshall was under arrest and the initial webpage with all of the evidence had already been taken down, but it didn’t matter. The story had ignited a firestorm of controversy about who was really the victim and who was the perpetrator in the scenario.
The comments in response to one of the articles on CNN had grown to thousands of replies, and many of them were vicious attacks on Deena. They called her a psychic vampire, a slut, a narcissistic whore, and worse.
Caelyn had to stop reading after that, because it was just too surreal and too disturbing. The thing was, even though Caelyn didn’t like Deena and had every reason to hate her—they were Caelyn’s personal reasons.
Deena was still her sister, but now she was literally the world’s punching bag. Everyone had an opinion on her, everyone thought they knew who Deena was, and even those who wanted to defend her were just as wrong.
None of them knew the real story or the real motivations for Deena’s behavior.
Caelyn didn’t even know, and she was the girl’s sister and had known her for her entire life.
Caelyn decided to stop going online to read news stories, and she refused to answer the landline.
Occasionally a reporter would come and knock on the front door of the house, but Caelyn never answered that either.
Instead, she ate some cereal and watched an old movie on TV in the living room.
While watching TV, Caelyn had the realization that it really was time to do something productive, and Caelyn thought that maybe, just maybe, her parents would be willing to hear her out after everything that had gone on with Deena. Maybe that would make them realize that Caelyn wasn’t so bad as Deena had painted her, and that she could still be trusted to make a good decision now and then.
Even though her heart was heavy with grief over Elijah, somehow Caelyn felt lighter for having made up her mind to go back to college. As she finished her cereal and put the bowl in the sink, Caelyn wondered how it was that she could still feel a sense of optimism after everything that had gone on.
Her family was destroyed, changed beyond all recognition. Her parents were empty shells of who they’d once been, her sister was psychotic and involved in a massive scandal, and Caelyn had lost the one person who she could truly count on—Elijah.
But somehow she hadn’t given up hope.
The realization was kind of astonishing.
In some way, she now understood that there was nothing anybody or anything could do to take away her hope. She and Elijah would find their way back together somehow. Even if it took the next twenty years, Caelyn would do her best to stay positive and be ready for the day when they could be together once more.
Knowing that inner strength, she felt a burst of energy. She wanted to go for a run around the neighborhood, or sing at the top of her lungs. She smiled, for what
***
The next day, Caelyn’s parents took Deena to an inpatient psychiatric unit. They left very early in the morning, and Caelyn watched them leave from her bedroom window. She hadn’t bothered to say goodbye to her younger sister, because she’d realized that Deena had given her the best possible advice when she’d advised Caelyn not to even think about her.
About two hours later, the first reporters showed up at the house and then the phone began to ring.
Caelyn got on her computer and saw that the story about Deena and her English teacher—and the resulting webpage with all the gory text messages and pictures that had been put online by other students—had gone viral.
Mister Marshall was under arrest and the initial webpage with all of the evidence had already been taken down, but it didn’t matter. The story had ignited a firestorm of controversy about who was really the victim and who was the perpetrator in the scenario.
The comments in response to one of the articles on CNN had grown to thousands of replies, and many of them were vicious attacks on Deena. They called her a psychic vampire, a slut, a narcissistic whore, and worse.
Caelyn had to stop reading after that, because it was just too surreal and too disturbing. The thing was, even though Caelyn didn’t like Deena and had every reason to hate her—they were Caelyn’s personal reasons.
Deena was still her sister, but now she was literally the world’s punching bag. Everyone had an opinion on her, everyone thought they knew who Deena was, and even those who wanted to defend her were just as wrong.
None of them knew the real story or the real motivations for Deena’s behavior.
Caelyn didn’t even know, and she was the girl’s sister and had known her for her entire life.
Caelyn decided to stop going online to read news stories, and she refused to answer the landline.
Occasionally a reporter would come and knock on the front door of the house, but Caelyn never answered that either.
Instead, she ate some cereal and watched an old movie on TV in the living room.
While watching TV, Caelyn had the realization that it really was time to do something productive, and Caelyn thought that maybe, just maybe, her parents would be willing to hear her out after everything that had gone on with Deena. Maybe that would make them realize that Caelyn wasn’t so bad as Deena had painted her, and that she could still be trusted to make a good decision now and then.
Even though her heart was heavy with grief over Elijah, somehow Caelyn felt lighter for having made up her mind to go back to college. As she finished her cereal and put the bowl in the sink, Caelyn wondered how it was that she could still feel a sense of optimism after everything that had gone on.
Her family was destroyed, changed beyond all recognition. Her parents were empty shells of who they’d once been, her sister was psychotic and involved in a massive scandal, and Caelyn had lost the one person who she could truly count on—Elijah.
But somehow she hadn’t given up hope.
The realization was kind of astonishing.
In some way, she now understood that there was nothing anybody or anything could do to take away her hope. She and Elijah would find their way back together somehow. Even if it took the next twenty years, Caelyn would do her best to stay positive and be ready for the day when they could be together once more.
Knowing that inner strength, she felt a burst of energy. She wanted to go for a run around the neighborhood, or sing at the top of her lungs. She smiled, for what
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